Ornamental relief plaque incorporating applique material and method of making the same

ABSTRACT

A RELIEF PLAQUE IN KIT FORM INCLUDING A PANEL BOARD HAVING A DESIGN THEREON. A PLURALITY OF APPLIQUE MATERIAL PIECES OF THE SAME GENERAL SHAPE AS THE DESIGNS ON THE BOARD AND HAVING CODED INDICIA TO INDICATE A DISCRETE DESIGN AREA OF THE BOARD TO WHICH EACH APPLIQUE PIECE IS TO BE APPLIED. A SHEET OF PADDING MATERIAL IS PROVIDED ALONG WITH A TEMPLATE FOR THE PURPOSE OF CUTTING THE PADDING INTO SHAPES CORRESPONDING TO THE APPLIQUE PIECES   THE PADDING ADAPTED TO THE INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE PIECES AND THE PANEL BOARD TO ACHIEVE A THREE-DIMENSIONAL EFFECT.

Jan. 5, 1971 s. D. BERLIN 3,553,062

ORNAMENTAL RELIEF PLAQUE INCORPORATING APPLIQUE MATERIAL AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed on. 51, 1967 INVENTOR SAMUEL D. BERLIN HQ. Q

BY M

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent ORNAMENTAL RELIEF PLAQUE INCORPORAT- ING APPLIQUE MATERIAL AND METHOD OF 11 5 '-THE SAME Samuel D. Berlin, 8219 Marcie Drive,

Stevenson, Md. 21153 Filed Oct. 31, 1967, Ser. No. 679,426 Int. Cl. B44f 7/00 US. Cl. 161-18 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in artistic hobby-craft and to the method of making the same. More particularly, the invention relates to a do-it-yourself art kit employing fabric applique materials and other well known artists materials for the formation of a three-dimensional relief plaque that can be placed upon the wall of the home or elsewhere for decorative effect. The invention is also concerned with the method of assembling the various materials to a backing or panel board.

Do-it-yourself art crafts have been popular for many years primarily because they enable even the beginner or amateur to construct a useful and decorative article of professional quality at a low cost and also further provide entertainment and diversion concurrently. The present invention utilizes a basically old art form which has been so designed that it can be practiced by the beginning do-it-yourself craftsman.

For many years skilled artisans have worked with silk applique and padded material along with other decorative items to create beautiful panels, pictures, or wall hangings which are today prized by collectors. It in this specific art form to which the present invention is directed. Previous attemps to transfer this art form into kit components have not been successful primarily because of the difficulty in shaping of the padded materials and in their adhesion onto each other or onto a backing panel which required the skill of an artisan in order to achieve the desired effect.

The present invention overcomes the difiiculties inherent in the prior art and provides structures which will enable individuals who are relatively unskilled in such art craft to readily create a finished three-dimensional relief plaque of the type simulating those made by the old applique artisans.

In the practice of this invention the resultant product is a unique work of art formed of padded silk embroideries which may be accented with jewels, brilliant sequins, crushed colored stone, and/ or braids.

It is one object of the present invention to securely mount a plurality of fabric applique pieces in proper position on a panel board for display and artistic purposes.

Another important object of the invention is to provide in kit form, an art panel which may be either plain or textured, having a pre-printed guide thereon, pre-cut applique pieces of material, sheets of foam rubber or polyfoam material, a cutting template, and other miscellaneous materials which may be afiixed to the panel in a preice determined sequence to form a finished relief plaque or the like.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a method of securing applique pre-cut material pieces in desired shapes on a panel board and incorporating a resilient material therebetween to add the effect of roundness and depth.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method of cutting and mounting a reslient material in the form of pre-shaped designs in such a manner as to achieve a three-dimensional or relief effect.

A further object of this invention is to form a relief plaque by the assembly of a plurality of applique material pieces having a resilient foam material therebeneath on a panel board with the addition of various other art objects such as shells, plastic or metal decorations, crushed stone, sequins, and braid, etc.

Other objects of the invention are to provide an art plaque adapted for home construction, bearing the above objects in mind, which is of simple construction, has a minimum number of parts, is inexpensive to manufacture and which when assembled has a professional artistic appearance and will be long lasting in use.

Another important object of the invention is to provide in kit form an art panel having a variety of surface ornamentation including at least one applique embroidered piece of material having a three-dimensional feature and other ornamentation which is applied to outlined areas on the art panel, which areas are keyed with numbers or the like indicia to similar indicia on the ornamentaton or its container.

For yet other objects and for a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, which illustrate the best mode now contemplated by me for carrying out my invention:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the decorated panel, partially completed and showing in exploded fashion the application of an applique member and its associated resilient foam padding member;

hFIG. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of the template s eet;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective showing the manner of using the cut template members on the foam material; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section taken along the line 44 of FIG. 1.

Reference is now made more specifically to the drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts throughout the several views and wherein a substantially completed decorative relief plaque constituting the subject matter of this invention is designated generally at 10.

All of the art material furnished with the proposed kit are adapted to be secured to a panel board 11 which may be fabricated of heavy board, wood, plastic, paper, or of any suitable and sturdy material. The board may be generally rectangular and is preferably imprinted with an outline showing the overall design.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention the panel board is formed of heavy paperboard and the top surface thereof is provided with a black velvet texture. This velvet material may be either in sheet form laminated to the board or may be in the form of flocking sprayed or otherwise afiixed to the backing material.

The panel board may be premarked with outline areas as shown in dotted lines at 12, which areas may be imprinted with number indicia or alternatively, by colors or symbols to indicate where the component resilient padding members and associated applique material pieces are to be placed and in some cases, in what order they are to be aflixed. It is contemplated that the outline areas 12. may

be applied by the silk screen process or other conventional printing techniques.

In order to provide a complete wall hanging, the panel board 11 may be pre-formed with a whole or partial frame, or may be left unframed as shown in the drawing. Obviously, a great many variations in configuration, design, and materials are possible and the particular design and materials shown are merely illustrative and are by way of example only.

Various design forms may be applied to the panel board in combination in order to achieve a variety of effects and in FIG. 1, by way of example, are shown crushed stone material 13 Which is adhesively secured to the panel board within areas surrounded by braid 14. This technique is fully disclosed in the Colvin et al. patent, 3,025,625. Additional decorative braid is shown on the plaque at 15.

The outline may be artistically framed by means of colored cardboard or plastic strips shown at 16. Any conventional adhesive means, such as rubber cement, may be employed to aflix the design ornamentation to the panel board 11.

The kit includes a plurality of silk applique material pieces which are die-cut in various shapes representing such objects as pieces of fruit, or flowers, shown at 17. In some cases, in order to more closely simulate flower petals and the like, the applique pieces furnished with the kit may be partially assembled in the form of laminations of two, three or more applique pieces stitched or otherwise affixed to each other.

In order to achieve a raised or relief effect with the applique pieces 17, a resilient padding material 18 is provided in sheet form. This material may be formed of either foam rubber, sponge, or artificial sponge material such as polyurethane. In order for the user to obtain the necessary shape of the padding material to underlie the applique pieces 17, a template sheet 19 formed of thin paper or the like is provided having imprinted thereon, as at 20, out lines corresponding to the shapes of the applique pieces furnished. In the preferred embodiment a key number or color is applied both to the cut-out portion of the template sheet and to the applique piece, which number would correspond to the number appearing within the pre-printed area 12 within the panel 11. It should be noted that the outline portion 20 is generally somewhat smaller than the outer peripheral dimension of the applique pieces as an overlying border or rim must be left in order to properly adhesively secure the applique member 17 to the panel 11.

The user after cutting out the template portion 21 may place the same directly on the resilient material sheet 18 and by use of scissors S or a knife, may cut the resilient material to the shape of the template 21.

The resulting resilient cut piece 22 is then adhesively secured to the panel board 11 by means of conventional adhesives so that it is properly aligned with the shape pre-printed on the board. The applique member 17, to which an adhesive has been applied on the inner surface, is then pressed down above the resilient material and the overlapping edges or border are firmly held into contact with the backing board 11. Inspection of FIG. 4 shows the edge portion of the applique member 17 secured by the adhesive 23. It is preferred that the resilient material 22 be manually held somewhat in compression until such time as the adhesive sets so that there will at all times be an outwardly directed force or pressure on the applique by the resilient material 22. The effect achieved by the user of this material and the manner of affixing the same to the plaque is a somewhat rounded or hemispherical configuration. Experimentation has shown that pressure sensitive rubber cement is the preferable adhesive since the components can later be pulled up without damage to the materials or the panel board if an error is made during assembly.

Following a designated sequence set forth in the instruction sheet accompanying the kit, each of the applique material pieces 17 is secured to the panel board 11 using adhesive as shown at 23 and interposing the foam material pieces 22 which have been cut to the desired shape. When all of the applique pieces are in place, the additional decorative components, such as the braid 14, the crushed stone 13, and the border members 16 are affixed to complete the ornamentation of the relief plaque. The completed plaque may be mounted on a wall by conventional means such as picture wire and hooks, or if desired, the panel may have a glass cover placed thereover and may be used as a tray.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the drawings and detailed disclosure are to be construed in an illustrative, rather than a limiting sense since various modifications and substitutions of equivalents may be made by those skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An ornamental relief plaque of the character described comprising a panel board, a plurality of shaped r resilient pad members secured to said board, and a plurality of fabric pieces of the same shape as said resilient members and of a slightly larger size, said fabric pieces being adhesively secured to said board over said pad members and compressing the pad members slightly so that the resilient force of the pad members acts outwardly against the fabric pieces associated therewith to form a rounded surface, said panel board being imprinted with discrete design areas, one fabric piece and one pad member corresponding to each of said design areas and adapted to be secured to said panel board in overlying relation to their respective design areas.

2. An ornamental relief plaque as defined in claim 1 wherein corresponding design areas and fabric pieces are keyed with like indicia to facilitate assembly.

3. A method of forming an ornamental relief wall plaque or the like, comprising the following steps:

(a) forming a plurality of varied shaped pad members from a sheet of resilient foam material to conform in shape and size to a plurality of indicia keyed templates; (b) adhesively securing each of said pad members to discrete indicia keyed areas of a panel board; (c) placing each of a plurality of applique material pieces of the same shape as the pad members but of a size somewhat larger than the pad members which are indicia keyed over their respectively keyed pad members, compressing said pad members slightly and adhesively securing said material pieces to said panel board.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 731,744 6/1903 Berninger 161-18 1,217,242 2/1917 Tuck 16139 2,937,931 5/1960 Nugent 161-19 3,057,099 10/1962 Fructer 16119UX 3,321,860 5/1967 Dichtl 40- 2,185,689 1/1940 Jensen 35-41 1,375,857 4/1921 Olney 161-40 2,718,484 9/1955 Baroumes l61-40X PHILIP DIER, Primary Examiner U.S. C1.X.R. 

